Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation
NSS report no.584: Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing condition in India, NSS 76th round 
1. The National Statistical Office , Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has conducted a survey on Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition as a part of 76th round of National Sample Survey . Prior to this, surveys on the same subject were carried out by NSO during 65th round  and 69th round .
2. The main objective of the survey was to collect information on facilities of drinking water, sanitation along with housing facilities available to the households and the micro environment surrounding the houses which are important determinants of overall quality of living condition of the people. The important aspects on which the information was collected in the survey are: type of the dwelling unit , tenurial status of the dwelling unit , structure of the dwelling unit , condition of the structure , floor area of the dwelling unit, age of the house owned by the household, facilities available to the households in respect of drinking water, bathroom, latrine etc. and micro environment surrounding the house like drainage system of the house, system of disposal of household waste water, system of disposal of household garbage, problems of flies and mosquitoes etc.
3. The present survey was spread across the country and for the central sample, data were collected from 1,06,838 households  from 5,378 sample villages in rural areas and 3,614 sample UFS blocks in urban areas, following a scientific survey methodology. This report is based on the central sample data collected through the survey on Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition during NSS 76th round. Some important findings of the survey, based on the response of the households, are being presented in the following paragraphs:
3.1 Drinking water facility
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- The major source of drinking water was hand pump for the households in the rural areas and piped water into dwelling in the urban areas. About 42.9% of the households in the rural areas used hand pump as the principal source of drinking water and about 40.9% of the households in the urban areas used piped water into dwelling as the principal source of drinking water.
- About 48.6% of the households in the rural and about 57.5% in the urban areas had exclusive access to principal source of drinking water.
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-  About 87.6% of the households in the rural and about 90.9% in the urban areas had sufficient drinking water throughout the year from the principal source.
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- About 58.2% of the households in the rural and about 80.7% in the urban areas had drinking water facilities within the household premises.
- About 94.5% of the households in the rural and about 97.4% in the urban areas used ‘improved source of drinking water’ viz. bottled water, piped water into dwelling, piped water to yard/plot, piped water from neighbour, public tap/standpipe, tube well, hand pump, protected well, public tanker truck, private tanker truck, protected spring and rainwater collection.
- About 51.4% of the households in the rural and about 72.0% in the urban areas used improved source of drinking water, sufficiently available throughout the year located in the premises.
3.2 Bathroom and sanitation facility:
- About 50.3% of the households in the rural and about 75.0% in the urban areas had exclusive access to bathroom.
- About 56.6% of the households in rural and about 91.2% in urban areas had access to bathroom. Among the households which had access to bathroom, about 48.4% in the rural areas and about 74.8% in the urban areas used bathroom attached to the dwelling unit.
-  About 71.3% of the households in the rural and about 96.2% in the urban areas had access to latrine. It may be noted that there may be respondent bias in the reporting of access to latrine as question on benefits received by the households from government schemes was asked prior to the question on access of households to latrine.
- The major type of latrine used by the households was flush/pour-flush to septic tank in both rural and urban areas. About 50.9% of the households in rural and 48.9% in urban areas used flush/pour-flush to septic tank type of latrine.
- Among the households which had access to latrine, about 94.7% of the males and 95.7% of the females in the rural areas used latrine regularly while about 98.0% of the males and 98.1% of the females in the urban areas used latrine regularly.
- Among the households which had access to latrine, about 93.8% of the males and 94.6% of the females in the rural areas regularly used Improved Latrine while about 97.2% of both males and females in the urban areas regularly used Improved Latrine. The latrine of any of the types  flush/pour-flush to piped sewer system,  flush/pour-flush to septic tank,  flush/pour-flush to twin leach pit,  flush/pour-flush to single pit,  ventilated improved pit latrine,  pit latrine with slab and  composting latrine was considered as Improved Latrine.
- Among the households which had access to latrine, about 85.8% of the males and 86.4% of the females in the rural areas regularly used Improved Latrine which was for exclusive use of the household while the corresponding figure was about 82.4% for males and 84.7% for females in the urban areas.
- Among the households which had access to latrine, about 3.5% of the household members in the rural areas and about 1.7% of the household members in the urban areas never used latrine.
- Among the households using latrine, about 4.5% of the households in the rural areas and about 2.1% of the households in the urban areas reported that water was not available in or around the latrine used.
- About 48.0% of the households in the rural areas and about 86.1% of the households in the urban areas had bathroom and latrine both within household premises.
3.3 Tenurial status and household characteristics:
- About 96.0% of the households in the rural and about 63.8% in the urban areas had their own dwelling unit.
- Among the households living in houses , about 96.7% of the households in the rural and about 91.5% in the urban areas used the house for residential purpose only.
-  Among the households living in houses, about 89.0% of the households in the rural and about 56.4% in the urban areas had independent house.
- Among the households living in houses, about 76.7% of the households in the rural and about 96.0% in the urban areas had the house of pucca structure.
- Among the households living in houses, average floor area of the dwelling unit was about 46.6 sq. m. in the rural and about 46.1 sq. m. in the urban areas.
3.4 Electricity for domestic use:
- Among the households living in houses, about 93.9% of the households in the rural and about 99.1% in the urban areas had electricity for domestic use.
3.5 Micro environment:
- Among the households living in houses, about 48.3% of the households in the rural and about 86.6% in the urban areas used LPG as fuel for cooking.
- Among the households living in houses, about 61.1% of the households in the rural and about 92.0% in the urban areas had drainage system in the house for disposal of waste water/liquid waste.
- Among the households living in houses, about 48.1% of the households in the rural areas disposed off household waste water without treatment to open low land areas/streets. In the urban areas, about 71.1% of the households disposed off household waste water without treatment to drainage system.
- Among the households living in houses, about 72.4% of the households in the rural areas disposed off household garbage either in household’s individual dumping spot or in a common place other than community dumping spot. In the urban areas, about 70.3% of the households disposed off household garbage either in community dumping spot or in a common place other than community dumping spot.
- Among the households living in houses, about 80.4% of the households in the rural areas had no arrangement for collection of household garbage. In the urban areas, panchayat/municipality/corporation made arrangement for collection of household garbage for about 74.1% of the households.
- Among the households living in houses, about 87.1% of the households in the rural and about 95.7% in the urban areas had the house with direct opening to approach road/lane/constructed path.
4. The report on “Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition” and unit level data are both available on www.mospi.gov.in.